Railway refrigerator car



July 21, 1936. G. G. GILPIN 2,048,115

RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR Filed Dec. 1, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 fizvenior Gart/z G: fiylpin/ irnZ Ju1 21,1936. IL N 2,048,115

' RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR Filed Dec. 1, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 fizvenior Jul 21, 1936. G 6mm 2,048,115

RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR Filed Dec. 1, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 inventor y 1936- G. G. GILPIN RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR Filed Dec. 1, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jizv eat or fiarih 6:

Patented July 21, 1936 RAILWAY REFRIGERATOR CAR Garth G. Gilpin, Riverside, 111., assignor to Union Metal Products Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application December 1, 1930, Serial No. 499,211

15 Claims. (01. 105376) 5 roofs insulated and are provided with an ice secured. Such a corrugated end wall has proved 5' box or basket at one or both ends of the car. to be very efficient in resisting shifting cargo Hatchways are provided above the ice boxes for and also in preserving the rectangularity of the icing the ice box, which are closed by hatch entire superstructure of the car. Such an end plugs. The melting ice cools the interior of the wall may be lined or even insulated if desired.

car and its contents by the cool air moving down- One of the objects of this invention is to provide 10' wardly through an air space which surrounds a metallic bulkhead or partition which extends the ice basket through an opening below the between the opposite side walls of the car and bulkhead, thence along the floor and, being to adjacent floor and roof respectively of the car warmed by the lading, rising to adjacent the ceiland comprises a metallic plate reinforced with a lo ing and thence toward one of the ice baskets plurality of substantially horizontal corrugathrough an opening over the bulkhead where it tions which preferably terminate within the plate is cooled and repeats the movement. False floors adjacent the side Walls of the car. are furnished to keep the lading slightly off the Another object is to form the substantially floor. parallel corrugations so that one or more of them Such ice boxes are formed by providing an inmerge together adjacent the middle of the plate 20 sulated partition'or bulkhead, as it is called, about to form a lesser number of stronger corrugations, four feet from the end of the car, which bulkthus providing a relatively stronger and stiffer head does not quite extend to the floor, nor to plate adjacent the middle thereof and a relatively the roof or ceiling of the car, so as to permit the weaker and resilient plate adjacent the opposite movement of air heretofore described. A grilled, ends thereof. 25 latticed or open-work door of some kind may be Another object of the invention is to insulate hinged to the lower margin of the bulkhead to the corrugated bulkhead plates, which insulation keep foreign matter out of the ice box and for and its protecting sheathingmay be applied to cleaning the ice box. The space between the the corrugated plate before it is installed in the upper margin of the door having a bulkhead car. A still further object is to provide the me- 30 and the ceiling of the car is partially closed by a tallic plate with flanges adjacent two or more of grill or netting to also keep foreign matter out its margins which are arranged to protect the inof the ice box. sulating means.

As packages, boxes and barrels containing Another object of the invention is to provide heavy contents are frequently loaded in such an insulated bulkhead which may be removed as 35 refrigerator cars, these bulkheads must be very a unit for repairs and replacements and to prostrong to resist the tendency of the cargo to vide such insulated bulkhead with a foraminous shift, which tendency is caused by the sudden door hingedto the upper margin thereof and prefstopping or starting of the train. This inertia erably another foraminous door hinged to the 0- force has been greatly increased in recent years lower margin thereof which doors may be par- 40 by the use of heavy locomotives, long trains, tially folded back to reduce the vertical height hump yards and car retarders. The bulkhead is of the bulkhead so that it may be easily moved insulated so that the air cannot penetrate it and within the car while being removed from or rethus destroy the circulating movement heretoplaced in the car.

fore described. Such bulkhead, therefore, must Another object of the invention is to provide a be stiff enough to resist the inertia force of a refrigerator car with a corrugated metallic end shifting cargo so as not to destroy the insulation, wall and a corrugated member or strut between but should have a certain amount of resiliency the corrugated wall and the corrugated bulkhead so that the blow of the shifting cargo will be so that they mutually reinforce each other.

partially absorbed and not entirely transmitted to Another object is to provide diagonal braces the side walls of the .car which would have a which reinforce the bulkhead at its junctures tendency to destroy them and also destroy the with the side walls of the car, which preferably insulating qualities of the car; furthermore, by transmit stresses therefrom to theend sill and providing means in the bulkhead to partially end plate respectively of the car.

=absorb this shock the means which secure the Another object is to form the corrugations in bulkhead to the side walls may be materially rethe metallic bulkhead so that they occupy the duced in strength. space between the bulkhead and the ice basket It is customary to provide end walls for ordiand do not stop the circulation of the cooling nary box or house cars which comprise a metalair.

511 plate or plates provided with a plurality of 60 The invention relates to refrigerator cars used by railways to transport perishable commodities, such as meat, milk, fruit and vegetables, which cars have their side walls, end walls, floors and parallel contiguous corrugations which are preferably positioned horizontally and terminate Within the plate or plates adjacent the opposite side walls of the car to which said .plates are Anotherobject is to provide a corrugated metallie plate bulkhead which is formed and secured to the walls of the car so as to strengthen the car against lateral weaving, thereby preserving the superstructure of the car;

In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows an interior view ice box or baskets of the car.

Fig. 21s a section on line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the relation of the end wall, bulkhead and ice Fig. 3 is a section through the ice box of a refrigerator car incorporating my invention showing the ice grates and loading hatchways.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section through'the end wall partition, ice box and struts. V

In the accompanying drawings the usual parts of the car are shown, such as side sill 2; side plate 3; side wall framing 4; side wall sheathing 5; side wall insulation 6; side wall lining l; flooring 8;' flooring insulation 9; upper flooring l0;

roofing I2; roofing insulation I3; carlines l4; corrugated end wall l6; end wall sheathing ll; end'insulation l8 andend lining l9.

The metallic plate bulkhead is provided with aplurality of substantially horizontal corrugations which preferably terminate within the metallic bulkhead adjacent the opposite margins thereofor adjacent the upright members 30 so that-any load imposed upon the corrugations is V transmitted to the uprightmembers 30 secured to the car (and preferably the post 32 which is braced by the member 34),. These parallel corrugations preferably merge adjacent the middle of'the plate into a lesser number of preferably deeper corrugations, thereby obtaining a corrugated plate which is relatively stiffer and stronger adjacent its middle and relatively weaker and reconstruction provides a relatively stiff andstrong end wall adjacent its middle and a relatively weak 5 and resilient end' wall adjacent the side Walls of the car to which it is secured. This end wall is preferably insulated in the usual manner shown in Fig. 2.

The bulkhead or partition comprises a corru- 1 gatedmetallic plate 25 provided with flanges 26 and-21, which metallic plate is insulated by the insulationflZB and sheathing 29, held in place by the wooden pieces 33 bolted to the corrugated metallic plate in the reentrant angles formed by the flat parts of theplate (adjacent the ends of the corrugations) and the flanges. The insulation meansand the flanges are substantially the same depth so as to provide protection for the edges of the insulation. By this arrangement the corrugated bulkhead may be insulated before the bulkhead is placed in position in the car. The corrugations in the metallic plate project away from the insulation so that the insulation is backed up for substantially the length of the plate.

The bulkhead is removably secured to upright members 3llby means of bolts 3|.

The ice box is-located between the end wall and the bulkhead and comprises a series of icegrates illsupported by a beain ll adjacent the endwall of the car and by brackets 42 secured to the lower margin of the metallic plate forming the bulkhead. ,Any convenient form of ice grates of a refrigerator car incorporating my invention looking toward theward the netting and partially occupy the space "46 between the main body of the metallic plate bulkhead and the netting. V 7

Yferred form of the invention, though it is to be may be used. The ice basket comprises a netting 44, adjacent to but spaced apart from the end wall, bulkhead and side walls, respectively.

The netting 44 forming part of the ice'basket is spaced apart from the main body of the plate 5' 25 forming the bulkhead and the reinforcing corrugations of the metallic plate are'projected to- The corrugated end wall it and corrugated bulkhead '25 are made to mutually reinforce each 7 other by the use of a strut 5B or a strut-tie positioned substantially horizontally and extending between the bulkhead 25 and the end wall l6 so as to transmit any horizontal thrust imposed upon one of said members to the other member; in other words, a thrust caused by a shifting cargo within the car against the bulk:

head 25 is partially transmitted-by the strut or struts 5i} to the corrugated end wall it and con- 'versely a horizontal blow imposed upon the exterior of the end wall. it is partially transmitted by the strut or Struts 5 to thecorrugated bulke V head 25. These struts are preferably positioned the metallic strut out'of engagement'with the end wall of the car so as not to form a conduit for heat into the ice box or refrigerated portion of the car. r The accompanying drawings illustrate the preunderstood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it isv obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will 7 occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

.1. Ina; railway car having spaced apart side walls, the combination of a metallic endfwall attached to the side Walls and formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations, a bulkhead spaced apart from the end wall, said bulkhead comprising a metallic plate formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations, and a strut positioned adjacent the middle'of the car and extending from the bulkhead to the end wall whereby theymutually re inforce'each other. j V r 2. In a, railway car having spaced apart side walls, an end .sill and end plate, the combina-I tion of a metallic end wall attached to theside walls and formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations, a bulkhead spaced apart from the end Wall, said bulkhead comprising a metallic plate formed. with a plurality 'of sub stantially horizontal" corrugations, and braces extending from adjacent the ends of the corrugations in the bulkhead, to the corner posts of thecar Q f 3. In a railway car. havingjspaced apart side walls, an end sill and end plate, the combination of a metallic end wall attached to the sidewalls and formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations, abulkhead spaced apart from the end wall, said' bulkhead comprising a metallic pl ate formedlwith aIplurality of sub stantially horizontal corrugations, a strut positioned adjacent the middle of the car and extending from the bulkhead to the end wall whereby they mutually reinforce each other, and braces extending from adjacent the ends of the corrugations in the bulkhead to the corner posts of the car.

4. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car comprising a metallic plate, an insulation adjacent to saidplate, said plate formed with a plurality of corrugations projecting away from said insulation which decrease in horizontal depth from their middles toward their opposite ends, and a netting forming part of an ice basket which is spaced apart from said corrugations, whereby the area of the space for the descending cooling air is increased due to the decreasing in depth of, the corrugations.

5. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car comprising a metallic plate having a body portion and a flange at each side thereof, an insulation secured to said body portion, and a sheathing covering said insulation, said sheathing and insulation being solely secured to said bulkhead whereby the insulated bulkhead may be applied to the car as a unit, said body portion formed with a plurality of parallel corrugations which merge into opposite sides of the body portion adjacent said flanges.

6. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car comprising a metallic plate having a body portion and a flange at each side thereof, an insulation secured to said body portion, and a sheathing covering said insulation, said sheathing and insulation being solely secured to said bulkhead whereby the insulated bulkhead may be applied to the car as a unit, said body portion formed with a plurality of parallel corrugations projecting outwardly therefrom which merge. into opposite sides of the body portion adjacent said flanges.

7. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car comprising a metallic plate, an insulation adjacent to said plate, said plate formed with a plurality of corrugations projecting away from said insulation, the margins of the plate provided with flanges projecting in the opposite direction from the corrugations, said flanges being substantially the same depth as the thickness of the insulation to provide a protection for the edges of the insulation.

8. In a railway car having spaced apart side walls, the combination of a metallic end wall attached to the side walls and formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations having a maximum depth adjacent the middle of the car, a bulkhead spaced apart from the end wall, said bulkhead comprising a metallic plate formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations having a maximum depth adjacent the middle of the car, and a strut positioned adjacent the middle of the car and extending from the bulkhead to the end wall whereby they mutually reinforce each other,

9. In a railway car having spaced apart side walls, the combination of a metallic end wall attached to the side walls and formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations, a bulkhead spaced apart from the end wall, said bulkhead comprising a metallic plate formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations, means whereby said end wall and said bulkhead mutually reinforce each other against horizontal forces, and a strut positioned adjacent the middle of the car and extending from the bulkhead to the end wall whereby they mutually reinforce each other.

10. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car comprising a metallic plate having a body portion formed with a plurality of parallel corrugations merging into the opposite sides of the body portion to form flat marginal parts bent to form a flange projecting oppositely from the corrugations, wooden pieces secured to the metallic plate within the reentrant angle of said parts and said flanges, a sheathing secured to said pieces, and an insulation between said sheathing and said plate.

11. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car comprising a metallic plate having a rectangular body portion formed with a plurality of parallel corrugations merging into the opposite sides of the body portion to form flat marginal parts, said body portion provided with flanges on all four margins thereof projecting oppositely from the corrugations, wooden pieces secured to the metallic plate within the reentrant angle of said parts and said flanges, a sheathing secured to said pieces, and an insulation between said sheathing and said plate.

12. In a railway car having spaced apart side walls, the combination of a metallic end wall attached to the side walls and formed with a plurality of substantially horizontal corrugations, a bulkhead spaced apart from the end wall, and a strut between said end wall and said bulkhead whereby horizontal thrusts imposed against the bulkhead are partially transmitted to the end wall.

13. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car comprising a metallic plate formed with a plurality of parallel corrugations merging into the plate adjacent the ends thereof to provide flat parts between the ends of the corrugations and the ends of the plate, an insulation member positioned on the lading side of the bulkhead and bearing against the plate between the corrugations and also against said flat parts whereby the insulation is backed up for substantially the length of the plate, and means to secure said insulation member to said plate.

14. A bulkhead for a railway refrigerator car.

comprising a metallic plate, an insulation member positioned on the lading side of the bulkhead and bearing against said plate, said plate formed with a plurality of corrugations merging into the plate adjacent the ends thereof and projecting away from said insulation member whereby the insulation member is backed up by the portions of the metallic plate between the corrugations for substantially the length of the plate,

15. In a railway car having spaced apart side walls, the combination of a metallic end wall attached to the side walls and formed with a plurality of substantially parallel corrugations, a

bulkhead spaced apart from the end wall, said 

